The most efficient method of bathing as well as most conservative in its use of water is the shower. The rinsing affect of the shower spray helps to clean the body more thoroughly and gives one a more refreshed feeling than by bathing. If one is able to scrub their body while showering, the cleaning efficiency, as well as therapeutic value of the shower is increased. Yet, many people do not fully utilize the cleaning efficiency of the shower because they fail to, or do not realize the necessity to, vigorously scrub the body while lathering and rinsing. If one's skin is not completely cleansed of dirt, dead skin, and soap residue, infections or disease can occur. Even if the bather uses a sponge or hand-held brush, the difficulty in efficiently scrubbing the back areas of the body is complicated, if not impossible.
The use of a hand-held shower is a more effective device for rinsing, since it directs the water spray more closely and forcefully against the area that is being rinsed. However, the use of a hand-held shower while using a brush or a sponge for scrubbing is not only awkward when washing the body, but ineffective when attempting to clean the back areas of the body.
The use of the customary backbrush, in all its many varieties, has never completely solved the back cleaning problem because the design of the backbrush makes it use unwelding. One cannot exert the amount of force that is needed to scrub the areas that need washing thoroughly and vigorously enough.
Although the use of a brush that attaches to the wall, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,459, 4,704,756, 4,890,352, or 5,228,165 would be effective in scrubbing the areas of the back, they are not efficient while rinsing because the water spray will not come in contact with the areas being rinsed with enough force to be effective. Even if the bather is using a handle-held shower, there would still be no direct contact with the water spray. Also, the wall brushes cited would be awkward if used for scrubbing other areas of the body.
The hand-held brush showers, as demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No.'s 4,155,137, 4,282,623, 5,153,962, or 5,339,469, would be adequate in scrubbing some areas of the body. However, they would be no more effective than the customary backbrush in washing areas that are difficult to reach manually and would be less effective than a hand-held brush in washing easily reached areas of the body.
If one could afford to build or have built a body shower, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,768,462, 4,733,421, 4,858,257, or 5,335,378, effective scrubbing of the front and back areas of the upper body could be accomplished. However, these devices are only effective while lathering. They have not been constructed to allow an effective means of directly rinsing the body while scrubbing.
While the swivel brush and shower, as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,463 would be acceptable in scrubbing and rinsing the upper back areas of the body, it is inadequate and awkward in washing the front and lowers areas.
While some of these prior devices can be used to effectively scrub while lathering difficult to reach areas of the body, to effectively rinse the body, or to scrub easily reached areas of the body while rinsing, no device has as yet been designed which can efficiently scrub while lathering and rinsing all areas of the body.